


Like Your Own

by mggislife2789



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Kidnapping, Other, Reader-Insert, Stabbing, knife
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-05 23:25:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11023782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mggislife2789/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)





	Like Your Own

Since last month, everything felt like it was flying by on autopilot. It was insane; one day, you could go out to work, same as any other day, and return home, while other days, you could leave for work and never return home to the ones you loved. 

Henry was like a son to you. You’d been his babysitter and nanny since he was born and the little man was already six years old - six years old and he was already going to grow up without a father.

As you approached the brownstone, you wiped the exhaustion and sorrow from your eyes. Will was a great man - a true gentleman, wonderful husband and even more loving father. The fact that he would no longer grace the world with his wonderful brand of southern charm was a tragedy, and JJ was not fairing well. Henry wasn’t either, but no matter how mature the child was, death was always different for them as opposed to adults. 

While Henry was confused, wondering whether or not his daddy would come back, JJ was devastated, crying herself to sleep nearly every night. Even you, who she’d been close with ever since you started taking care of Henry, was being pushed away save for taking care of Henry while she was away.

Knocking on the door took effort. When JJ opened the door, she gave you a half-smile, that strained kind that you knew was put on. “Hey J,” you said. Her eyes were puffy. Her face was red. Even the tears still stained the corners of her eyes. “How’s little man?”

“He’s okay. Better today than yesterday. I’m sorry I had to call you on such short notice, but I’ve been called in this morning.” She always hated having to all you on short notice, but this is what you did for a living, so it was fine, especially considering you wanted to help her in any way possible. 

Just as you were about to give your condolences for the 30th time in a month, Henry ran toward you, saying nothing as he wrapped his arms around your waist. “How’s it going Henry? I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too.” he said softly. Normally, Henry was full of life and spunk, but he’d been very reserved since his father died. 

Turning around, you said goodbye to JJ and promised that Henry would be in safe hands. You wondered if she’d ever consider retiring from this position and finding something new. She loved her job, but you could see in her eyes that she felt guilty every time she left the house - according to her, it was just everyday mom guilt. 

After dropping Henry off at school, you returned to JJ’s place and started in on freelance work that you took on just to supplement your income. Although they paid you as well as they could, and since Will’s death, his death benefits had been used to pay you, you still needed money to live, so you freelanced whenever you could. 

The afternoon flew by and by the time you’d finished lunch, worked a little more, and looked at the time, it was time for you to go and pick up Henry from school. When you left the house, you could immediately feel eyes on you, but you just chalked it up to Will checking up on his family from above. Autopilot is was. You arrived at Henry’s school without realizing how you got there. He hadn’t wanted to go to school this morning, but when you saw the tentative smile on his face, you knew it was better that he’d gone. He got to see his friends and take his mind of things. “Hey sweetie,” you said, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I just have to stop for gas before we go back home.”

“Okay, Y/N,” he said, getting into the back seat and putting on his seat belt. When you arrived, he asked if he could get a candy bar. Normally, you’d say no, but he was putting on some serious sad eyes, so you figured why not. He hopped out of the car and bounded into the mini mart, quickly grabbing a candy bar and then handing it to you while he looked around the store. 

The second you walked out of the store and toward the car, a man popped out, grabbed Henry by the chest and pulled him toward him, pressing a gun to the little boy’s back. “What do you want?” you asked, your heart pounding in your throat. As much as he was JJ and Will’s little boy, you loved him just as much. Henry was so scared. “It’s okay, Henry.” You held your hand out to calm him and brought your gaze back up to meet the man’s eyes. “What do you want?”

“Come with me,” he said, gently walking Henry toward the car so as to not raise suspicion. “Or he dies.”

You had no way to defend yourself on Henry. Although you knew never to let an unsub take you to a second location, there was nothing you could do but risk Henry’s life. “Okay,” you said, as your breath caught in your throat, “okay, I’ll go.”

As you got into the back seat of the car, you grabbed Henry and pulled him close to you. “What do you want?” you asked him for the third time. He didn’t respond, but you did find his gaze resting on Henry. Whatever he did want, you assumed he hadn’t actually thought it through. If he had, he would’ve taken your phone or even checked for one. You were no profiler, but you had picked up a thing or two from JJ. Pulling out your phone, you signaled Henry to keep quiet as the man turned the corner. 

Three times in a row, you texted the word pineapple, hoping that the randomness of the texts would alert her to the fact that something was wrong. Before he could see, you turned it on silent and placed it back in your pocket. The man continued to drive. He was driving you both out of town. But he rarely made eye contact with you. Another few glances in Henry’s direction, and you guessed that something had happened between this man and either JJ or Will, and he was getting revenge. From the prison tattoos, you could tell he was a former convict. When the buzzing started in your pocket, you ignored it and instead focused on whatever you could that might help JJ. 

Occasionally, you or Henry would attempt to get the man to talk, but nothing got through to the man. “What’s going on?” Henry whispered. “Am I going to die?”

“No, baby,” you said, caressing his cheek. “I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you.” Now you were outside of town and there was no one on the road. He pulled off, the dirt kicking up from the wheels as he did and pulled you out of the car by your hair, throwing you to the ground before going for Henry. 

“Your mother put me in prison, ruined my life and took everything away from me. Now, it’s her turn.” He lifted his hand to strike Henry down but you jumped in front of him. 

“You’re going to have to kill me to get to him,” you said as confidently as you could. You weren’t ready to die, but if you had to for Henry, you would. The little boy, who’d already been through so much, cowered behind you as the man struck you down into the dirt, but you got up over and over again, standing your ground in front of the child you loved so much. 

His eyes blazed with fire as he punched you over and over again. The only thing keeping you rising again was Henry screaming out for you, scared and wondering whether or not he would lose you too. All of a sudden, you saw a siren in the distance just before you were struck to the ground again. He was so busy with you, he didn’t see the approaching vehicles and pulled out a knife. Lunging toward Henry, who was now a ways away from you you got off the ground and blocked him, feeling the metal slice into your side. “Drop your weapon!” You heard someone screaming from the distance. 

The standoff distracted him enough that Henry came running to your side. ‘I’m going to be okay, baby,” you said. “Mommy’s here.” Out of the corner of your eye, you could see the panic on JJ’s face. She’d gotten your message. The blood was seeping out of your side at an alarming rate. “I need you to do something.” You grabbed his hands as your voice started to weaken. “I need you to push down right here as hard as you can. It’s going to hurt me. And it’ll be a little gross for you, but it’ll save my life, okay. Save lives like mommy.” 

With tears in his eyes, Henry pushed down on your stomach and you grunted, feeling the pain coursing through your entire body. The man claimed he wasn’t going back to prison and lunged forward, resulting in a bullet to the arm. He was quickly arrested by Emily and the rest of the team while JJ rushed to your side. “You got the message,” you said weekly. JJ removed Henry’s hands and replaced them with her own. 

“You’re going to be okay, I promise,” she said softly. You wanted to go to sleep. You were in so much pain. You could only hope you’d wake up soon.

—-

A shooting pain in your side woke you up the faces of the BAU, along with JJ and Henry. “You’re okay,” JJ cried, cradling your head in her arms. “Oh my god. I’m so sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?” you rasped. It hurt to speak, so you needed to keep it to a minimum. 

She took a step back and brought Henry to her side. “You almost died. I put that man away before. I saw you…jump in front of him.”

With a small smile, you turned toward Henry. “I love him just as much as you do.” The arm on your good side reached toward him and you kissed him on the forehead. “And I think you saved my life, little man.”

He nodded happily. “The doctors said if I didn’t push as hard as I did you would’ve lost too much blood.”

“You did such a good job. Thank you, sweetie.” Nearly every minute for the next hour was filled with JJ apologizing for what happened. “It’s okay, JJ. It’s going to be okay. And you know what? I’d do it again.”


End file.
